In the voting thread for Hadoop 0.22.0 I provided some information onwhat was done for 0.22.0 and where it stands with respect to itsstability. If you follow this threadhttp://s.apache.org/COCthe one with the subject line "[VOTE] Release hadoop-0.22.0-rc0" youmay find some useful details.

Based on everything I now about the release, based on the testing Iand people I worked and/or collaborated with, based on that 0.21.0 wasits alpha predecessor and current stable is 0.20.203.X, I think itleaves 0.22.0 in beta stage. But the point is not what I think.

The important thing is what you and everybody else think once you tryand verify it. Hadoop is intended for different platforms and usecases. With as much testing as one can do the only guarantee ofstability in your particular environment and with your own big data isto try it, confirm the results, file, or fix bugs. Contributions tothe project as a user or a developer are equally welcome.